LUMBERTON — The Robeson County district attorney says he has no
vendetta against the county Sheriff’s Office or its former leader —
Glenn Maynor.

But Johnson Britt acknowledges that a rift between the two offices has
simmered at least since 1998.

That year, Britt had to dismiss 235 drug charges against 66 people
because a key witness — a former drug enforcement deputy — could not be
found to testify.

Maynor, then the sheriff, publicly blamed Britt for not trying hard
enough to find the missing lawman.

Eight years later, Britt again has had to dismiss drug charges — at
least 180 of them this time — because a state and federal investigation
has led to corruption charges against former drug enforcement deputies.

Three of those deputies — Roger Taylor, C.T. Strickland and Steven
Lovin — have been charged in a 10-count federal indictment. The
indictment alleges that they burned two homes and a business, assaulted
people, paid informants with drugs, and stole and laundered public
money.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bobby Higdon said he has been told that a trial
date for the three men has been set for December.

Two other former deputies — James O. Hunt and Kevin Meares — pleaded
guilty within the past three weeks to stealing drug money and have
agreed to testify against the indicted deputies. Other deputies appear
to be prepared to do the same.

Since the indictments were handed down June 9, Britt has revealed
little — if anything — to the media unless directly asked. He did
confirm a tip that Maynor used on-duty deputies to help him move into a
house he bought in 2003.

Britt said he knows little more that could be revealed since the state
Bureau of Investigation and the federal Internal Revenue Service began
Operation Tarnished Badge almost four years ago.

Although Britt said the two notoriously tight-lipped agencies have
given him periodic updates, they have provided few specifics. Britt
said he prefers it that way. He said he needs to separate his office
from the investigation as much as possible.

Regardless, it’s clear that no love has been lost between Maynor and
Britt. Britt said Maynor was a constant critic of the DA’s Office,
publicly admonishing it for dismissing the cases in 1998 and for
accepting plea agreements over the years instead of seeking the maximum
punishment for drug dealers. Britt counters that the system allows him
little choice.

Despite the criticism, Britt said, he finds no pleasure in the recent
bad publicity that has besieged Maynor and the Sheriff’s Office. The
allegations of corruption are bad for everybody involved, Britt said,
especially the people of Robeson County.

He said the credibility of the county’s law enforcement and its
judicial system have suffered severely in their own ways.

Records show that the 180 charges Britt dismissed included 19 people
accused of dealing drugs.

Of those 19, the records show, seven were accused of selling more than
400 grams of cocaine.

Under state law, people found guilty of trafficking more than 400 grams
could face the maximum punishment — nearly 11 years in prison and fines
of up to $250,000.

Instead, the seven men walked free.

“It’s very difficult to accept that we had to do that because the
officers had lost their credibility, not only with us, but it had been
proven time and time again that they lost their credibility with
citizens who were serving as jurors,” Britt said. “That angers me,
particularly in light of the criticism they leveled at me when they
were not doing their jobs properly, legally or ethically.”

It’s not yet known how many more cases will have to be dismissed
because of Operation Tarnished Badge. Britt said cases in which accused
deputies worked tangentially will also have to be tossed out if those
deputies’ testimony becomes necessary.

Britt said it’s also possible that people convicted by the deputies’
testimony could have their sentences overturned.

The conviction of one Robeson County resident — Eugene Scott of Shannon
— has already been overturned. Scott was convicted in 1997 of
trafficking cocaine. Britt said evidence uncovered through Operation
Tarnished Badge accuses Taylor of planting drugs on Scott’s property
and then arresting him. Scott could not be reached for comment.

The conviction of a Pembroke man, Brian Keith Oxendine, was dismissed
in 2003 in part because Taylor had been charged with obstruction of
justice, court records say.

Oxendine, a convicted felon, was charged in 1996 with illegally taking
a 1979 Cadillac, a pager and $2,200 from the Robeson County Sheriff’s
Office. Court records do not say how he got those items. Taylor was the
lead investigator. Strickland and Lovin were listed as witnesses on the
court documents.

It also is not known how many cases will have to be dropped against
people arrested by the Robeson County deputies on federal charges. At
least two deputies — Hunt and Lovin — are accused of stealing money
during drug interdiction stops along Interstate 95. Some of those cases
became federal.

Higdon, the assistant U.S. attorney in Raleigh, said he does not
believe any of those cases have been dismissed.

Carlton Mansfield, a Lumberton lawyer whose clients include people with
drug charges, said they should not get too optimistic.

“I don’t think it’s going to be open up the floodgates and let
everybody go,” Mansfield said. “A lot of folks have a lot of false
hope.”
Investigation’s roots

Britt said he called for the investigation that became Operation
Tarnished Badge as a result of a case that started in November 2001.

By that time, he said, he had grown suspicious of deputies in the Drug
Enforcement Division, partly because they were spending a lot more
money than they had the means to make.

Britt said the deputies were buying boats, motorcycles, designer
clothes and new cars. He said they vacationed on cruise ships together
and once went as a group to have laser eye surgery. They held big
parties at Strickland’s timeshare at the beach, he said. At times,
Britt said, cases had to be continued because the deputies were on
vacation.

“It seemed like if one went, two, three or four of the others might be
going,” he said.

At least some of the deputies had second jobs.

Incorporation records with the N.C. Secretary of State show that Hunt
formed a business — Blue Light Interdiction Inc. — in December 2002.
Britt and others said Hunt and Lovin used the business to train lawmen
across the South on how to make drug stops along interstates.

Nobody argues that Hunt and Lovin weren’t good at finding drugs, but
their tactics apparently left a lot to be desired. In a hearing last
month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Evenson accused the men of racial
profiling, primarily stopping clean-cut Hispanics driving rental cars.

Four years before Hunt filed the incorporation papers — while he and
Lovin were themselves being trained in interstate drug interdiction —
Hunt got shot in the chest during a drug stop on Interstate 95.

Afterward, he was heralded as a hero. Maynor presented Hunt a plaque
and a “purple heart” during a memorial service for fallen officers in
1999. The National Sheriff’s Association named Hunt national deputy of
the year in 2000. People donated money toward his recovery, and Hunt
found himself honored at banquets and parades.

Last month — eight years after he was shot — Hunt pleaded guilty to
stealing about $160,000 from six drug stops along I-95. Britt said the
actual amount stolen is probably much higher. He said convicted drug
dealers with ties to Miami told investigators that they had $500,000
when Hunt stopped them. Hunt turned in $350,000 as evidence, Britt said.

While Hunt and Lovin supplemented their incomes through Blue Light
Interdiction Inc., Strickland was supplementing his by mowing yards. He
also was spending a lot, Britt said.

“There is not that much grass that can be cut to generate that kind of
income,” he said.

But it took more than their lavish lifestyles and Britt’s suspicions to
start an investigation. It took a bizarre case, followed by a couple
more.

In late 2001, records say, Taylor and former Deputy J.W. Jacobs allowed
a felon, Scott Eugene LeClaire, to have a 9mm handgun as part of a
sting operation that resulted in the arrest of three people who stormed
into a home wearing T-shirts emblazoned with “Police” on their chests.
LeClaire was being used as a confidential informant in the case.

As a result of allegations against Taylor and Jacobs in that case,
Britt requested an SBI investigation in 2002. Taylor and Jacobs were
charged the following year and kicked off the force.

Meanwhile, Strickland was having problems of his own. A judge found
that Strickland had falsified information to get a warrant to search
for drugs in Christopher Logan’s home. Strickland was forced to resign
in June 2003 because his credibility with jurors had been ruined.

Logan, a major drug dealer in Robeson County, was shot to death during
an unrelated domestic argument in January 2004, Britt said. Drug
charges against Gary McLean, the man Strickland arrested along with
Logan, were among the 180 charges Britt has thrown out because of
Operation Tarnished Badge.

The other dismissed charges involve cases in which former deputies
Strickland, Lovin, Hunt, Kevin Meares, Joey Smith and Billy Hunt served
as the lead investigators.

Meares pleaded guilty Aug. 4 to stealing about $25,000 in drug money
through the federal forfeiture program and has agreed to testify
against the indicted deputies. Meares told investigators that
Strickland, his supervisor, taught him how to steal the money.

Smith and Billy Hunt have not been charged. Smith has received a target
letter from investigators saying he is a subject of the investigation
and asking for his cooperation. Britt said both former deputies would
have no credibility with jurors.

Maynor also has not been charged. He resigned as sheriff in December
2004, citing health reasons, and friends say he is rarely seen in
public anymore. He has not returned repeated telephone calls.

U.S. attorneys have declined to comment on whether Maynor is a suspect
in the investigation. Britt said he doesn’t know for sure.